The Sound Board

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Nov 25, 2019 3:38 am Toontrack are doing 1-day specials all week. Today is some EZ Mix stuff, and 70% off the Rock Warehouse SDX.

https://www.toontrack.com/black-friday/

$50 for the Rock Warehouse SDX is sooooo tempting, but there are other SDXs that are even more tempting, and luckily my life will not fall apart if I don't buy any of them (I know, blasphemy!)

For now I will wait them out see if any others are sold for $50!
I love the sound of Independent. But I have the other kits that cover much of the same ground.
I have Roots Brushes, Rods, and Mallets, love the sound, not sure I need the sticks version.
The Progressive Foundry has some great drum sounds, as does the Rock Warehouse - but I wonder how often I would use them.

And then there are the New Your Studios.

I have Vol 2, and use it a lot.
I have Vol 1, although for me it is the core library from Superior 2. Not sure there is any benefit to having two copies. This is another one I use a lot.
And Vol 3 is supposed to be a "prequel" to the core library from Superior 1. This is tempting, since I have to use S2 to access the S1 library. But what is a prequel? Would I really regain access to some of my favorite drums?

If anyone knows the inside skinny on any of these I am all ears! (guess that's appropriate?)

With Triple Spiral Audio I am also running a Black Friday sale till 2 December with up to 50% off. All my own products and as well those from Subsonic Artz, Beautiful Void Audio, Channel Robot and Heartwood Soundware are on sale here: https://www.triplespiralaudio.com/

Thanks for putting up and maintaining the list this year Tack!

wst3 wrote: ↑Nov 25, 2019 1:09 pm

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Nov 25, 2019 3:50 am Studio One up to 50% off, inc upgrades - https://shop.presonus.com/Studio-One

I am unable to locate the discounted upgrades, unless it is the same sale that's been going on for a while now.

I see lots of upgrades on the webpage with end date of Dec 1st - are these just rebadged old deals, Bill?

Bill - I'm skipping Toontrack's Rock Warehouse too, it doesn't sound essential. Like you I use NY vol 1 and 2 a lot, but don't have 3... I didn't know it was any kind of prequel? I just thought it was stuff they did after 1 and 2 (I'm a bit simple that way...)

Impact Soundworks have up to 30% off - from their website:

Orders up to $99: 10% off entire order
Orders $100-199: 15% off entire order
Orders $200-299: 20% off entire order
Orders $300+: 30% off entire order

https://impactsoundworks.com/specials-deals/

Spitfire Audio:

* 25% off individual products

* up to 75% off bundles

28th Nov - 3rd December

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/

Soundiron
Up to 40% off through 12/2

30% player libs and bundles
40% off non-player libs individually
https://soundiron.com/

Up to 45% off XLN Audio, inclduing Addictive Drums and XO. I've only recently become aware of XO (thanks Erik!) and it looks like a highly promising beats tool which has rave notices, which I'm going to try and find time over the coming days to trial. I'm always on the lookout for something here, no-one ever seems to get it quite right, so here's hoping.

https://www.xlnaudio.com/products

Also I think this was posted on the forum thread about this one, but the code Facebook15 at jrrshop gives an additional 15% off many products including the one above.

I am sure Addictive Drums has matured since I last took it for a spin, but at that time I was disappointed. I use Superior, it was still V2 when I auditioned AD - it was bundled with one of the last commercial versions of Sonar, which is why I gave it a try.

Then, last year, when Toontrack was twisting our arms I revisited it, with the same result.

There are some amazing drum tools available to us - in addition to Superior3, which is my primary tool, I use RealiDrums, and now Moonkits. I also use a bunch of specialized drum libraries from 8Dio and SoundIron, most of which date back to Tonehammer<G>.

So why didn't I like AD? First, and more important to me, I just like the sound of the Toontrack libraries. They offer the most detail and nuance, which is important, but I can also craft a drum sound that sounds like something I might really do. Second, as awful as the Superior UI can be, the AD UI was even more off-putting.

Disclaimer - I use Superior for drum kits (for the most part - their recent orchestral expansion is pretty cool). I'm not (yet) using it for orchestral work or sound design - just straight up drummer sitting behind a kit stuff. And I usually use only kick, snare or hat (depending on the kit), overheads, and room or ambience. I use a lot of bleed. In this setting Superior is... well... geez... superior<G>!

One thing that impresses me is that I can do the insanely multiple microphone set up and make it work. I did not grow up using 20 microphones on a drum kit, and I witnessed too many unfortunate applications thereof, so I find it refreshing that I can get away with it. I still prefer my 4 microphone setup, but I have options now.

None of which is to suggest that XLN can't be the right tool for the right job. It is, for lack of a better term, a very modern sound, even when it tries to be vintage. That sound has not been right for me, thus far. It is still installed, and I do still tinker with it when I need to procrastinate, but I end up going back to Toontrack.

Not trying to rain on a parade here, but XLN can turn into just as large an investment as Toontrack, so I thought I'd stick my nose in.

Yes, I'm uninterested in Addictive Drums personally - my heart forever belongs to Toontrack there - but its XO that has my interest. I bought UVI's Drum Designer hoping it could fill a hole in my eternal quest for a beats plugin that could do more modern things that Stylus yet also in a musical and intuitive way, but that was very disappointing in the end - not a good workflow, and buggy to boot. I'll report back on XO once I have any chance at all to demo it. but it looks quite original in its approach but potentially quite intuitive. (BTW not mentioned here, but the plugin does have sep outs, which is a non-negotiable for me).

Aha!

I have few calls for beats, and HHC has me covered for that, but XO is a fascinating concept - can't wait to hear your review!

Additions:

* Sugar Bytes - Black Friday - 27 Nov - 3rd December

https://sugar-bytes.de/

* Blink Sonic - Amazing Reaktor Ensembles - Black Friday 35% off - Ends 2nd December

https://www.blinksonic.com/

Also - head up - Sample Logic BF sale coming tomorrow - I will update with more details as they become available.

Also - anyone interested in Boom Library sound effects -

While the 3 for 2 offer is still only at Boom Library, Keep Forest is somehow selling individual products cheaper than Boom Library on their new web store:

Keep Forest: https://keep-forest.com/store

Boom Library: www.boomlibrary.com

wst3 wrote: ↑Nov 27, 2019 12:55 pm Aha!

I have few calls for beats, and HHC has me covered for that, but XO is a fascinating concept - can't wait to hear your review!

It's been a very trying day, and in truth I'm not really in the greatest frame of mind, but did spend a half an hour at the end of it with XO. It wasn't quite as intuitive as I'd hoped - had to go to the manual / online many times to figure out basic things than I'd have liked - but it wasn't taking too long to get my head around the XO way of thinking. Scanning the Battery Factory library (and a couple of others) improved things no end and in the last 10 minutes I was having rather a lot of fun.

I need another hour with at least before I get a sense of whether or not whole colour map thing is a gimmick or useful, or indeed the other controls for sound-searching. It doesn't seem to group things particularly intelligently or musically, but I have a feeling the greater part of XO isn't really in having it help you choose between 30 similar snares (which is what the concept suggests), but in coming up with surprising combinations you hadn't thought of. The way the groove engine works is quite interesting and that IS quite musical, and I'm always interested in new ways to do these things if they're musical.

After the day I've had, I thought "to hell with it" and gave it another hour. Love at second sight, bought. And for £67 with that Facebook15 code at jrrshop, quite the bargain.

I'll do a proper mini review in its own thread at some stage, but what sold me was putting in a term in the search box - 707. zap, Yamaha, electro, acoustic - anything, any meaningful term that applies to a drum sound, and then letting it (and me) run riot. You can limit to just one instrument or all and by doing this a few times you can really drill down nicely AND be surprised all at once. Seems like a very creative product which allows for every shade of pure guesswork to forensic manual control (yes, with sep outs even if they're a little buried).

Again, thanks to Erik here who first alerted me.

Best Service has its products 40% off, lots of Eduardo Tarilonte and Chris Hein deals (Dark Era not included)
https://www.bestservice.com/deals/best_ ... _2144.html

Oeksound 33% off Soothe and Spiff
https://shop.oeksound.com/

Waves 50% off discounted prices and free plugins at $50 and $100 (Code BF50 also works on upgrades)
https://www.waves.com/specials#sort:pat ... :number=20

Toontrack adds 42% off EZ Drummer 2
https://www.toontrack.com/black-friday/ ... HIQAvD_BwE

Liquidsonics up to 66% off their reverbs - https://www.liquidsonics.com/store/

Thanks everyone. (Been quietly keeping the OP updated with posts on this thread over the past week. Hope I didn't miss anything!)

I also added deals from Hollo Sounds, Ilya Efimov, and FabFilter.

New addition:

Sample Logic
80% off, 4 specific products
83% off the same products in a bundle
Ends in 3 days
https://www.samplelogic.com/

I might get Xhosphere 2 at $69...for trailers and other things

You can find all additions in the OP, it is all updated as Jason mentioned.

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Nov 28, 2019 12:36 pm Liquidsonics up to 66% off their reverbs - https://www.liquidsonics.com/store/

Anything seriously worth looking at, other than Seventh Heaven? I already have that.

Audio Bro updated pricing:

Modern Scoring Brass is now $499

Looks like it has not done well. Strange. I have only seen it on full price for a few weeks. May be there are truly too many options now.

Because there's a new product update I've put it on the front page, but for completeness the VPS Avenger 50% off storewide deal - https://www.vengeance-sound.com/plugins.php

The free Waves plugin this year is Beserk, a new distortion effect.

Brand new plugin for wild distortion sounds: 10 all-original distortion shapes, plus the unique GO BERZERK feature!

https://www.waves.com/lpn/black-friday-2019/free-plugin

Samples From Mars have their entire sampled collection of synths and drum machines for $39, or everything new for $19. Past customers get discounts, check your email.

I have a spare code for everything for $19, PM me if you want it (Samples From Mars seem to actively encourage this)

There IS a lot of sifting to be done in their material, buf if you have the time and inclination there's plenty of good stuff to be found.

https://samplesfrommars.com/